|
|
Daily News
|
|
Marketing a Precious Commodity
After watching their true-life sports story languish in British development hell, a New Zealand father-and-son combo have taken matters into their own hands.
Friday, May 16, 2008 at 10:10 AM
By FilmStew Staff
|
|
|
PreciousMcKenzie.co.nz
Photo
|
|
Five-time World Power Lifting Champion
|
|
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival market, one of the innumerable feature film projects being shopped around at the script stage is the story of South African black weighlifter Precious McKenzie, who fled apartheid to compete on behalf of Britain in the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Now 71, McKenzie is planning to join a sales representative on the Riviera in an effort to find financiers.
According to the Dominion Post, the father-and-son team behind the project – 59-year-old Lance Morcan and 29-year-old James, who reclaimed the story rights from an ineffectual British partner – figure they need about $10 million U.S. in order to begin shooting this fall in South Africa. They have locally sent the script to director Lee Tamahori (Next, Die Another Day, Once They Were Warriors) for his consideration.
In terms of casting the lead role, the main challenge is the fact that the Morcans must stay true to the real-life McKenzie frame – all four feet and nine inches of it. Thus, the weightlifter’s own first choice Cuba Gooding Jr. is, at 5’ 10”, simpy too tall to pull it off convincingly. Instead, actors being eyeballed include Guy Torry (American History X) and Desmond Dube (Hotel Rwanda); in a perfect world, the Morcan team would also have Sir Anthony Hopkins playing the part of a South African weightlifting federation boss.
“We believe it's a story that deserves to be told,” Morcan Sr. tells the paper. “It's not a weightlifting story, it's a human drama of one guy overcoming the odds." McKenzie currently works as a back injury prevention consultant, something he knows a lot about.
|
|
|
|
|
 Email
|
 Print
|
|
|
|
|
|